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The Miracle’s final week was featured in the Mountain Press today and it touched upon the hearfelt following and devotion of its fanbase. Here is a snippet:

‘Miracle’ nears final performance
by DEREK HODGES

PIGEON FORGE ? The lights are set to go down for the final time Saturday evening on “The Miracle” as the musical epic recounting the life of Jesus moves out of its Parkway theater to make way for a massive new production.

The six-year run of the soaring show has touched as many as a million lives with the Gospel story, but like all good things, must come to an end, Fee-Hedrick Family Entertainment principal David Fee says. It’s a sad moment for those involved in the staging, not least of them Fee, who says the show?s sets and costumes will be carefully packed away in anticipation of a future resurrection.

“We’ve run that show for six years and we love that show,” he says. “We just felt at the beginning of this year that this was going to be the last season for ‘The Miracle.’ I think the show will come back, though. We put too much into the show and we love it too much to just let it go.”

“The Miracle” has three more showings left, scheduled for 8 p.m. today and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Saturday. Fee says the possibilities for new life for “Miracle” include Christmas season matin?e shows at Smoky Mountain Opry, the name of both the theater and the new show it will host starting Nov. 4, and even the chance for a traveling production.

The company announced plans to nix the show a few months ago, eliciting some strong reactions from dedicated fans who have been devastated by the decision. While some have made their feelings known through phone calls or e-mails, which Fee-Hedrick staffers say they’ve fielded a number of, others have been more public in their grieving.

“I will truly miss ‘The Miracle,'” Facebook user Amber Hislope wrote on the show’s fan page. “Every time I have seen the show, I’ve literally cried at some parts.”

That?s the kind of sentiment that has been common among the production’s presence on the social networking site.